Review Detail

a brilliant family saga

What I Loved:
Though the story is about three women–Mary the grandmother, Caroline the mother, and Katie the daughter–we get the direct points of view of only Mary and Katie. Katie suffers under the thumb of an overbearing mother and the bullying from classmates after her best friend Esme told everyone that Katie tried to kiss her; Mary’s future is up in the air after her live-in boyfriend dies and it becomes clear she has serious memory loss.

The entire book is fantastic, but flashbacks to Mary’s teenage years and adulthood are a particular highlight. You know the women in history who seemed to be born in the wrong era entirely? That would be Mary, the girl born with a fire that’s still burning bright when she’s old and living with Alzheimer’s. Despite heavy stigma toward girls who gallivanted around town with boys, Mary did just that to her heart’s content because no one else’s opinion mattered. Stigma toward young, unwed mothers? Pfft. The only reason she gave her baby daughter Caroline up to her twelve-years-older sister Pat because Mary knew she couldn’t care for her.

That choice is the one that truly sets the events of the novel and the unraveling of decades’ worth of secrets in motion.

Caroline is the clear antagonist as she tries to remove the old woman from her life as soon as possible, but she reveals herself as a fully realized character too with good reason to dislike her birth mother so much. Once her story emerges toward the book’s end, you start to understand her point of view. Readers have the benefit of seeing Mary’s side of the story first and knowing how much she loves her daughter, but Caroline isn’t a mind reader. What she knows is what her aunt/adoptive mother Pat told her and the neglect she experienced in the few years she lived with Mary.

Caroline made mistakes. Pat made mistakes. Mary made mistakes. All three women just wanted to do what they thought was best and it turned into a family feud that lasts into the new millennium.

All of this nasty family history emerges while Katie is trying to get through school, please her strict, reticent mother, and get comfortable with her identity as a lesbian girl. Stories like Katie’s where they struggle with their sexuality and deal with bullying make me happy my own self-realization and coming out process went so easily. Her romance with another girl, as minor as it is, is sweet and realistically handled. Still, what I love most about Katie is that she’s the driving force behind ending the fifty-year feud between Caroline and Mary. Sometimes, you need a modern eye to solve problems from the past.

What Left Me Wanting:
There’s honestly so little I can say to offer reservations on the book. Its pacing is slow and not always easy to stick with, but the payoff is worth it. I’d prefer if Katie’s brother Chris had his developmental disability specified, but I can forgive it because of the nuanced characterization he gets too.

Final Verdict:
Downham pens a brilliant family saga that modern teens will eat up and it might make them consider problems in their own families in a new light too. There simply aren’t any more words I can use that will communicate how much I want you to read this book. Just look at me typing READ IT in capital letters and do exactly that: read this book.

Hi, YABCers! Today we're excited to celebrate the cover reveal for SAVAGE by Nicole Conway, releasing September 26, 2017 from Month9Books. Before we get to the cover, here's a note from Nicole: Hello...

Looking for these?

What is YABooksCentral.com? YABC is your first stop for all things book-related! Founded in 1998 by (now author) Kimberly Pauley as a basic stopover for people looking for information on young adult books, YABC has since evolved into one of the largest professional book recommendation sites targeted towards tween and teen readers. You can read book reviews by our staff or write your own! Join discussions about your favorite books and enter to win more in our monthly giveaways. Keep up with all the latest book-related goodies on our blog and interact with authors in our Twitter chats. If you ever have any questions, just email us at any time at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..